Where I’m At

byJustin GehringonOctober 16, 2017

Lately, I’ve been emailing myself what I’ve accomplished at work. It’s had a surprising impact on me, in that, on those days where I feel like I got nothing done, I actually got quite a bit done. Take for example this list from one of my more recent visits to a charter school:

Fixed a driver issue on teacher’s computer

Ordered Airserver and installed on Gavin’s Computer. Receipt sent to school. Was put on credit card. Installed on Teacher’s computer. Sent instructions to reset of the staff.

Looked into a flash bug on the Chromebooks

Put together an Amazon order for chargers, projectors

Helped transfer ownership of the website to a new manager.

Delivered freshly fixed ipads to teacher.

Setup a temporary cloud print server for the Chromebooks. (Copier). I say temporary because it currently requires the laptop in the backroom to be on. Looked into a solution from Ricoh to remove the computer from the equation.

Repaired 2 laptops. (Laptops 29 + 30)

Reached out to apple for a revised quote for 20 ipads.

Looked into wifi issue in Teacher’s room – no resolution yet. May have been student caused on particular machines

Enabled international calls on phone setup to allow calling a parent. (Alaska is apparently international)

Installed VLC on a laptop for a movie.

That was over the span of about 4 hours… And while I felt like I got “nothing” done, the truth was, I was moving pretty much non stop. That feeling was coming from not getting done what I went there to do, which was a bigger project than I was able to tackle that day (which is why it didn’t make the list).

I’ve realize that this is something my brain does in my home life as well. There are times where I feel like I really got nothing done, when in reality, the time was quite productive. Let’s quickly document the weekend… because on the whole: I got a lot done:

Friday – Got the kids. Fed Them. Got them to carver elementary. Volunteered running the cub scouts pinewood derby track with a bunch of other people. Got the kids home and in bed. Got some coding done.

Saturday – Went with the Kids, Benson’s and Scouts, for our annual trip to the Apple Farm (6 years running!). Went to church and did sound for a few hours. Went on a date with my wife. Went grocery shopping.

Sunday – Went to church and did sound for a few more hours. Cleaned the kitchen and living room while Amber was out at lunch. Worked on repairing a USB Drive. Attended a scout planning meeting. Got some coding done.

All in all, a fairly productive weekend. A lot got done. A lot still got left undone. That’s okay. I might need to do this more. Who knows.